RULING OF THE COURT
The first applicant, Wachira Waruru, is the Editor-in- Chief of the East African Standard (hereinafter referred to as "the Standard") a newspaper printed and published by the second applicant. The respondent was at all material times the Deputy General Manager (Finance) of Mumias Sugar Company Limited which company as its name suggests, is a sugar manufBaecttwuereern in2 ndK enyaan.d 17th December, 1998 the Standard published several articles in connection with an alleged scandal at Mumias Sugar Company Limited. The articles spoke of an alleged loss of nearly one billion shillings incurred by the company through uninvoiced sugar sales as a result whereof, it was stated, not only did the company suffer losses but also that the Government lost Shs.170,000,000/= in Value Added Tax and Sugar Development Levy. It was alleged that the respondent was sent on leave pending inquiries into the scandal; that an audit team was appointed to inquire into the scandal; that the com…